28,000 German Catholics sign petition against pro-LGBT school curriculum endorsed by bishops

The Catholic initiative Certamen launched a petition in response to the heterodox document called “Created, Redeemed, and Loved: Visibility and Recognition of the Diversity of Sexual Identities in Schools,” published by the DBK last year. The petition calls for the document’s withdrawal and has garnered 28,000 signatures, and was handed over to Bishop Heinrich Timmerevers last Sunday. Timmerevers serves as chairman of the Commission for Education and Schools of the German Bishops’ Conference and is seen as the main initiator of the controversial document.

The pro-LGBT guidelines state that “homosexual, bisexual, or asexual orientations” are “variations from the norm in human capacity for love,” and define “transgender identity” as “an incongruence between the biological sex present at birth and the opposite gender identity.”

German bishops Stefan Oster, Rudolf Voderholzer, and Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki have publicly condemned the heterodox document. Oster warned that the document implies a definition of human anthropology at odds with Catholic teaching.

“For a different doctrine of humanity leads to a different doctrine of revelation, of the sacraments, of salvation – and thus necessarily to a different doctrine of the Church and its existence – and ultimately even to a different understanding of the Triune God,” he said.

The organizers of the petition also focused their criticism on Catholic anthropology. They “opposed an anthropology presented in the guidelines that relativizes the biblical view of humanity as consisting of two sexes (Gen 1:27) in favor of a sociological self-definition.”

At the same time, they were motivated by “concern for the salvation of children and young people in Catholic schools, who have a right to the unabridged truth of Christ.”

According to Die Tagespost, the initiators of the petition wanted their protest to be understood as a fraternal correction. Danial Hager, first chairman of Certamen, said, We are not acting here as rebels, but as faithful sons of the Church whose hearts bleed in light of current developments.”

In addition to the signatures, Bp. Timmerevers was also presented with five questions regarding Church teaching, which, according to Certamen, had been sent to the bishop earlier but had remained unanswered until now.

The questions concern the relationship between the order of creation and the definition of gender, the sacrament of marriage as between a man and a woman, and the right of parents to raise their children free from gender ideology, all of which have been called into question by the heterodox document.